Federal Skilled Worker: Where your Application Stands

10-07-12

As announced earlier this year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has ceased to process Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications submitted prior to February 27^th, 2008 if they had not passed through the preliminary selection process conducted by an immigration officer.  The controversial move, which took legal effect on June 29^th, 2012 as a key provision of the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act aims to rid CIC offices around the world of the extensive backlog created by a massive intake of FSW applications.

Visa offices are to stop processing FSW applications made prior to February 27, 2008, and refund applicants in accordance with the following guidelines:

• • IF the immigration officer has not determined whether or not the applicant in question meets the outlined selection criteria for their particular application prior to March 29, 2012 THEN the application is dismissed and the fees paid to CIC by the applicant are to be reimbursed.
  • IF the immigration officer has in fact determined whether or not the applicant meets the outlined selection criteria prior to March 29^th, 2012 AND the application has not been finalized before June 29, 2012 THEN the fees paid to CIC will not be reimbursed to the applicant as the application will continue to be processed until a final decision is made by an officer
  • IF the immigration offer has in fact determined whether or not the applicant meets the outlined selection criteria on or after March 29^th, 2012 AND the application has not been finalized prior to June 29, 2012 THEN the application is dismissed and the fees paid to CIC by the applicant are to be reimbursed
  • IF the immigration officer has in fact determined whether or not the applicant meets the outlined selection criteria on or after March 29, 2012 AND the application has been finalized before June 29, 2012 THEN the final decision regarding the application stands, processing will continue to the eventual visa issuance or refusal, and fees paid to CIC by the applicant will not be reimbursed.

How do you determine which stage an application falls under?

A decision has been made as to whether or not the applicant meets the outlined selection criteria, prior to March 29^th, 2012, if at least one of the following steps was taken:

• • A decision was entered into one of the following processing systems:
    • In the Computer-Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) under “SELDEC”
    • In the Global Case Management System (GCMS) under “Eligibility – Passed” / “Eligibility – Failed”
  • A decision has not yet been entered in the processing system but file notes clearly explain whether or not selection criteria have been met
  • A negative decision has previously been made, but the application has been re-opened for reconsideration to an order by a Superior Court (which can be the Federal Court) or a settlement agreement has been entered into through a Court order established prior to March 29^th, 2012.

A decision has not been made as to whether or not the applicant meets the selection criteria, prior to March 29^th, 2012, if any of the following situations apply:

• • A selection decisions has not been entered into the processing system or documented as specified above but a preliminary review of the documentation has taken place
  • The applicant has been requested to provide additional documentation but it has not yet been received or a selection interview is pending
  • The applicant has provided additional documents as requested, which were received, but the selection decision has not been entered in the processing system or documented as specified above. Examples include, receipt of an Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO) or a response to an officer’s request for additional information prior to March 29^th, 2012.

A final decision regarding an application has been made if any of the following situations apply:

• • A final decision was entered into one of the following processing systems:
    • In the Computer-Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) under “FINDEC”
    • In the Global Case Management System (GCMS) under “Final – Approved” / “Final – Refused”
  • The final decision has not yet been entered into the processing system but file notes clearly explain that the decision has been made

Reimbursement Process

National Headquarters – Finance, in consultation with visa offices, will be responsible for returning fees paid to CIC for applicants with the affected terminated applications. CIC will initiate the fee reimbursement and communication process with affected applicants.

Amounts to be refunded will be based on the POS+ data at missions. NHQ – Finance will communicate with affected missions to provide further instructions on the extraction of required data. The POS+ data will then be subsequently matched with the eligible cases provided by CAIPS/GCMS and will form the baseline data for the purpose of returning fees to applicants.

NHQ – Finance will contact eligible applicants to confirm contact and payment information prior to commencing any reimbursement process, and will allow a reasonable period of time for applicants to respond.  Should applicants not respond to any initial or follow-up communications, applications will still be terminated, but future action can be taken to return fees to the payee.

Reimbursements will be issued in the associated currency of the country in which the payee resides, using the daily exchange conversion rate in effect on the date of issuance.

Applicants who had paid the Right of Permanent Residence Fee (RPRF) and were unsuccessful in their applicants will continue to be entitled to a reimbursement of the fee as outlined in existing procedures.

File retention

As per the current information management practices and retention requirements, all documentation associated with terminated applications will be kept for at least two years from the last instance of administrative use.

The last instance of administrative use is generally defined as the date on which fees paid to CIC were reimbursed to applicant.

Federal Court challenge to section 87.4 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

The amendments found in section 87.4 of the IRPA dismissing FSW applications are subject to litigation. The result of said litigation could affect how the terminated FSW applications are managed in the future.

FWCanada will provide updated information on the litigation concerning terminated FSW applications as well as all matters concerning Canadian immigration. Stay up to date by visiting our news page at http://cinet.wpengine.com/news-and-articles.html and follow us on twitter @FWCANADA.